Amtrak has an annual photo contest that has been running since 2003. Duane Kerzic was standing on the public platform in New York’s Penn Station, taking photos to enter in next year’s photo contest, when he was approached by Amtrak police. They asked him to delete his photos immediately, and he refused. He was subsequently arrested for not deleting these photos. After the fact he was also charged with trespassing.
According to Amtrak’s weekly newsletter, photography is allowed in public areas, which includes the area Kerzic was in while photographing. Hell, thanks to the photo contest they run, they’re encouraging people to take photos just as Kerzic did. History shows, however, that Amtrak police have a habit of disregarding this.
IANAL, but as far as I know there’s no legal way they can make you delete photos you’ve taken while not trespassing. Kerzic claims the officers never told him to leave the premises (as you’d expect them to if they actually thought he was trespassing), but considering he was standing in a public area with a legally purchased ticket I find it absurd that anyone could consider what he did trespassing or in any way illegal.
These sorts of incidents reflect very badly on police in general. The more I read about this sort of thing, the less respect I’m likely to have for law enforcement, and I’m starting to think that’s a good thing. Respect should be earned — just because they’re dressed in a uniform doesn’t mean we should automatically respect them. It’s important to stand up for your rights. I don’t know if I would have tried to argue with or resist the Amtrak police had I been in Kerzic’s position, but I think (at least in retrospect) that it would have been the right thing to do. If you’ve done nothing wrong and are being detained or arrested with no legal justification, I think you have the right — or maybe even the duty — to resist and stand up for yourself.
Rent-a-cops aren’t the smartest guys around. They probably thought “oh shit terrorist taking pics of the train” and paniced.